Republican Takeover of MPS is a Failure

MILWAUKEE – Wisconsin Jobs Now executive director Martha De La Rosa released the following statement regarding the resignation of Dr. Demond Means:

“With the departure of Dr. Means as commissioner of the so-called “Opportunity Schools and Partnership program,” the attempt by legislative Republicans to take control of Milwaukee Public Schools has failed.

“Dr. Mean’s resignation is a victory for Milwaukee’s children and a defeat for legislative Republicans who have shown an increasingly clear bias against the people of Milwaukee, and for their accomplice County Executive Chris Abele.

“Milwaukee’s Public Schools need full funding so our kids can get the quality education they deserve, not experiments in taking control away from our locally elected school board and handing it to an unaccountable political appointee.

“The white Republican legislators who don’t represent Milwaukee but think they can experiment on the mostly Black children of MPS need to understand that we will not allow them to risk our children’s future for their political gain.

“Wisconsin Jobs Now will continue to support efforts by parents and educators to establish real community schools and will fight back vigorously against any attempt to appoint another Takeover Czar or expand the failed takeover legislation.

“Recent statements by legislative Republicans who have threatened to further cut MPS funding as punishment for not implementing their racist experiment prove that they have zero concern for the quality of education in our city. We will fight back even harder against their next assault on our children.”

The “community schools” model has proven successful in Cincy and other school districts similar to Milwaukee’s. So why don’t GOP legislators support their expansion here?

Why is a Mequon superintendent who has never worked in an urban school and a college-dropout county exec with no special knowledge about education viewed as saviors? Why is the relatively new MPS superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver, with an “innovation in education” degree from Harvard and her entire career spent in urban schools, viewed as having nothing to offer? It it sexist undermining or simply disrespect based on the belief that everyone associated with MPS is somehow disreputable?

Let Dr. Driver do her job. Let community schools succeed. And don’t let GOP legislators further harm MPS by making good on their threats of revenge.

I am afraid this press release makes me think about One Wisconsin Now the same way I think about Paul Ryan when he proposes repealing Obamacare with nothing to replace or the NRA when it opposes every step that might reduce Milwaukee’s homicides. People on the left can be just as morally bankrupt as those on the right. In the case of OWN they seem far more concerned about the interests of adults than the children.

Yes solutions would be much better than just blanket condemnation and overheated rhetoric. I’ve said this elsewhere and I’ll say it again here. I really wish Abele and Means had taken a different approach right at the start. They should have candidly spoken to Darling and Kooyenga and said that an effort like this is complex and difficult and takes significant time. They should have asked for time to secure buy-in and support from the community, including MPS parents. Had they done all of that, it would have appeared like they were making a sincere effort to do this right. You can’t blame people for being skeptical of outsiders forcing major changes. It’s easy to bash MPS and yes they make it too easy sometimes, but an overhaul like this is only going to work if you have buy-in from the community, and that can’t be done quickly.

This school takeover law is based on nothing more than a trendy concept that has since been largely discredited in legitimate research and in-depth journalistic reports.]

Even if OWN’s rhetoric is hyped, that does not make the GOP Legislature’s plan any less half-baked. Darling and Kooyenga et al agreed to carry water for high-aid lobbyists working for the corporate-education industrial complex. Those legislators are now mad as hell that MPS stakeholders, including parents, are not rolling over.

Villainizing unions and students/parents of color, and “taking them over” to whip them into shape is recipe for colonization, not innovation and success. It’s just using “vulture capitalism” on public assets.

Both Abele and Means jumped at the chance to play the hero in this scheme (while neglecting the governmental jobs for which they are being paid). Means was smart to get out before this tinkering plan completely derailed his career.

It will be interesting to see what Abele does now. His out-sized ambition and love of playing a know-it-all might keep him from seeing what a trap he willingly walked into.